Saltillo, May 29.— Morena Party candidate for governor of Coahuila, Santana Armando Guadiana Tijerina, is reaching the end of his campaign amid controversy. His PRI past, his passion for bullfighting, and investigations by the then Attorney General's Office (PGR) frame the political aspirations of this Coahuila native.
History
The current senator on leave was born on March 2, 1946, in Múzquiz, Coahuila; he is the father of eight children from two marriages, the last to María Guadalupe Mandujano Flores.
A civil engineer and graduate of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, he earned a master's degree in science specializing in operations research thanks to a scholarship. One of his main campaign promises is to provide 70,000 young people with 2,000 pesos a month in scholarships. "A scholarship changed my life," he says.
From a young age, he was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), where he held his first political positions. In 1969, he joined the PRI and two years later, at the age of 25, was head of the Coahuila state land registry office. Three years later, he ran for local deputy for District 10, based in the Carbonífera region; he won the election and served as a legislator from 1973 to 1976.
After that period, he retired from politics and dedicated himself to the business sector. In 1971, he founded the Minsa Group, comprised of nine mining companies dedicated to the extraction of barite, copper, gold, silver, manganese, gypsum, and, above all, coal for the steel industry.
Along with mining, he is an apple producer and bullfight promoter; he also owns a breeding farm for fighting bulls.
PRI
In 2012, he resigned from the PRI amid a dispute with brothers Humberto and Rubén Moreira Valdez. "Humberto and Rubén Moreira, a national shame for the PRI," Armando Guadiana wrote in full-page advertisements he paid for in newspapers across the country. The state's public debt during Humberto's administration (2005-2011) has since served as Guadiana's political banner.
